According to industry data, imports of edible and non-edible oils fell 13% to around 9.12 lakh tonnes during April due to lower imports of crude palm oil.
The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said in a statement that the import of vegetable oils stood at 9,11,846 tonnes in April 2022 as compared to 10,53,347 tonnes in April 2021.
Import of edible oils declined from 10,29,912 tonnes to 9,00,085 tonnes, while imports of non-edible oils declined to 11,761 tonnes from 23,435 tonnes.
Crude palm oil imports declined to 4,14,829 tonnes in April from 6,89,731 tonnes in the same month last year.
Imports of vegetable oils increased by 4% to 67,07,574 tonnes during the first six months of this oil marketing year (November 2021 to April 2022). It was 64,28,350 tonnes in the corresponding period of the last oil marketing year.
The oil marketing year runs from November to October.
“Indonesia has banned the export of palm oil with effect from April 28, 2022, which has queued the pitch and made life difficult for hapless consumers around the world,” SEA said in a statement.
India imports around 6,00,000-6,50,000 tonnes of palm oil per month from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and other countries.
Of this, Indonesia supplies about 3,00,000 tonnes, mainly RBD palmolein, while the same quantity comes from Malaysia and the remaining 10% comes from Thailand and other countries.
“Hopefully Indonesia can lift the ban before the end of May. However, the situation will worsen if Indonesia continues to impose restrictions on the export of palm oil products as sufficient supplies are not available from other origins,” the SEA said.
Imports of refined oil (all refined palmolein) increased to 9,20,947 tonnes during the first six months of the current oil year from 24,101 tonnes in the year-ago period.
During November 2021 to April 2022, palm oil imports declined to 32,25,761 tonnes from 3,792,354 tonnes in the year-ago period, while soft oil imports increased from 2,477,884 tonnes to 33, mainly due to higher imports of soybean oil. 17,242 tonnes.
According to SEA, during the oil marketing year under review, around 11.10 lakh tonnes of sunflower oil were imported by India, mainly from Ukraine (8,42,956 tonnes), Russia (2,10,905 tonnes) and Argentina (56,426 tonnes).
“No shipments from Ukraine since March 27, 2022. In April, sunflower oil imports were recorded at only 54,426 tonnes. High prices and low availability of sunflower oil in the international market and high domestic prices have reduced the demand and consumption of sunflower oil in India,” the SEA said.
This shortfall is being partially replaced by other edible oils such as palmolein, soybean oil, groundnut oil and rice bran oil.